LVII. However, the Romans, gave way before the fortune of the man and
received the bit, and considering the monarchy to be a respite from
the civil wars and miseries they appointed him dictator[578] for life.
This was confessedly a tyranny, for the monarchy received in addition
to its irresponsibility the character of permanency; and when
Cicero[579] in the Senate had proposed the highest honours[580] to
him, which though great were still such as were befitting a human
being, others by adding still further honours and vying with one
another made Caesar odious and an object of dislike even to those who
were of the most moderate temper, by reason of the extravagant and
unusual character of what was decreed; and it is supposed that those
who hated Caesar cooperated in these measures no less than those who
were his flatterers, that they might have as many pretexts as possible
against him and might be considered to make their attempt upon him
with the best ground of complaint. For in all other respects, after
the close of the civil wars, he showed himself blameless; and it was
not without good reason that the Romans voted a temple to Clemency to
commemorate his moderate measures. For he pardoned many of those who
had fought against him, and to some he even gave offices and honours,
as to Brutus and Cassius, both of whom were Praetors. He also did not
allow the statues of Pompeius to remain thrown down, but he set them
up again, on which Cicero said that by erecting the statues of
Pompeius, Caesar had firmly fixed his own.
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